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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » My "new" computer

May 18, 2011 2:30 p.m. fast_eddie_72 Dork

Dunno where this came from, but I got all crazy to find an old Macintosh computer. Looked on ebay and was surprised how much people wanted for them. Craigslist worked out a lot better. Paid too much, but got a nice, working Macintosh SE with an external SCSI hard drive and a neat travel case. It's pretty cool. Needs a new PRAM battery, but otherwise seems to work fine.

But the cool part - today I picked up an SE/30 for next to nothing in the original box! Haven't plugged it in yet, but with the working SE to help, I hope to get it up and running. The SE/30 is considered the "best" of the compact Macs.

So, more crap I don't really need. But it is pretty cool. Cell phone pic of the SE -
May 18, 2011 2:36 p.m. mndsm SuperDork

Dude, you know you need some Oregon Trail and some Carmen Sandiego.....
May 18, 2011 2:59 p.m. jrw1621 SuperDork

Oh, like an original Banana Jr. 6000

http://toastytech.com/guis/banana2.html

Please tell me that you will add the optional legs. (not sold in any stores)
May 18, 2011 3:01 p.m. 1988RedT2 Dork

Dude! I've got an old Mac IIfx on a shelf in my garage. Make me an offer!
May 18, 2011 3:04 p.m. David S. Wallens Editorial Director

Wow, when I started at GRM, we had some SE/30s. I'm pretty sure my first computer here was a Plus. (JG, do you remember?)
May 18, 2011 3:09 p.m. Lesley SuperDork

My first Mac was a Plus was pretty excited to finally upgrade to a II cx.
May 18, 2011 3:21 p.m. Grtechguy SuperDork

I'm just a young'n.... this was my first computer in the home
May 18, 2011 3:42 p.m. rebelgtp SuperDork

My first computer was an Apple IIe back in the early 80's. I remember my mom bringing home a Mac from work and I spent the entire weekend playing with it.
May 18, 2011 4:14 p.m. fast_eddie_72 Dork

I had a good time last night playing with it. It really gives you some perspective. I had a IIe when I was in high school. In college, I worked at the student run television station and we had a Mac of some kind. I wrote all my college papers on that thing. We thought it was amazing.
May 18, 2011 6:15 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

I wanted an apple but ended up with this instead
May 18, 2011 6:24 p.m. integraguy Dork

JThw8...a computer like that TI was my first computer about 25 years ago. Well, not actually mine, I had to do weekly inventory reports on a computer and with help I was finally able to get acceptable results from one of these. Unfortunately, EVERY week I had to do the report from scratch, because no one else was familiar enough with this computer and my reports to be able to get it to the point where I could "bring up" last week's report and make the necessary additions/deletions.
May 18, 2011 6:47 p.m. aircooled SuperDork

Looks like this page will be useful to you:

http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/68k_software
May 18, 2011 6:56 p.m. JG Pasterjak Production/Art Director

David S. Wallens wrote:

Wow, when I started at GRM, we had some SE/30s. I'm pretty sure my first computer here was a Plus. (JG, do you remember?)

An SE/30 was the first color Mac GRM was produced on. It was all Pluses when I got here.

jg
May 18, 2011 9:16 p.m. stuart in mn SuperDork

The first computer I owned personally was an original Mac...no hard drive, just a floppy. The company where I worked at the time had an Apple Lisa, that was a cool machine.

Of course, they were both light years ahead of the teletype I used in high school, or the punch cards I used in college.
May 18, 2011 9:54 p.m. DoctorBlade HalfDork

I had a C64... does that count?
May 18, 2011 10:03 p.m. Toyman01 SuperDork

My first computer was a Tandy 1000. I want to say my parents spent $1300 on it.
May 19, 2011 6:53 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

Man, you all got the new stuff. I've still got my Mac. As in the original 128k model.

Sigh, I even remember punch cards.
May 19, 2011 8:04 a.m. failboat Reader

Man. The first computer we got when I was a child was an Apple II. We even had an external 1mb hard drive for extra storage! Dont forget the dot matrix printer.
May 19, 2011 9:08 a.m. 93EXCivic SuperDork

Man the oldest computer I remember my family having was a Dell with Windows 95.
May 19, 2011 10:23 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Cool. I bought an SE about ten years ago, they're cool little machines but I sold it when I tried to get rid of unnecessary stuff before a house move.

This was my first computer (Sinclair ZX Spectrum), I toyed with the idea of picking one up in the UK for nostalgic reasons but then decided I don't need to provide more habitat for dust bunnies:
May 23, 2011 9:16 a.m. fast_eddie_72 Dork

Just an update. As usual I've got just a touch overboard.

The SE is working great. I also picked up an SE/30 which is considered the "best" of the compact Macs. It has the 030 processor. The 30 wasn't so happy. Booted up at first, but then developed what they call simasimac. So I pulled it apart, cleaned everything up and scrubbed the logic board where the capacitors had leaked a bit. Brake cleaner and a tooth brush are great for that. I added a new PRAM battery and put it all back together.

Now the 30 is running great and has the external SCSI drive hooked to it. Not content to leave it at that I tunred my attention to the SE. I finally got some floppies and discovered the drives weren't working. So I took it apart, cleaned and lubed the floppies. That thing was a mess inside, so blew it out with compressed air and cleaned everything up. It's working great, but still have it apart waiting for another PRAM battery in the mail. So I should have two working Macs for not a ton of money very soon.

The 30 had Word and Photoshop on it. Also has a video card, so with an adapter I think I can hook a regular color monitor to it. The kids could do homework on it if I could figure out how to print from it.

If I get all crazy this summer, I may try to restore the color on the cases with this stuff. Pretty neat solution!

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

Take care,

Ed
May 23, 2011 11:07 a.m. aircooled SuperDork

To be totally retro, you need one of these:

Strange, but I can't find a real picture of one.
May 23, 2011 12:14 p.m. Cole_Trickle Reader

I remember my dad getting a late 80's Emerson. It was fun. We had a Golf game and the demo (I think) to flight simulator. My dad was really excited that it had an address book in it. That computer never saw the internet. We got another around 93-94 and the real love began. Being 11ish, I remember downloading pictures one line at a time.

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